The present invention relates to a portable telephone having a voice recording and playing back function.
Referring to conventional voice recording functions of portable telephones, in many cases, there have been recording methods of only narrow scope. For example, some of them are equipped with only a function for registering telephone numbers by voice. Otherwise, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 8-32670, one may register names by voice that have been previously registered. Still others are such that they only take memos by voice. Thus, users of portable telephones have been unable to select other methods than those mentioned above.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 4-314242 discloses a cordless telephone giving, by voice, notices about the running down of its battery, alarms about its talking range, guides to its various functions, and so on. On the other hand, portable telephones are tending to become more and more multi-functional and, keeping pace with this, users are increasingly operating the portable telephone only according to displays made on the screen.
However, as the operations become complicated, there arises the problem that the user makes similar mistakes again and again before reaching a wanted menu screen because of the small amount of information available from the display (indication) on the screen.
The present invention was made in order to solve the above mentioned problem. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a portable telephone in which it is made possible to make voice recording of all the menu/memory screens. Further, it is possible, when a menu screen is accessed again, to play back the voice recorded thereat.
It is another object of the invention to provide a portable telephone in which it is possible to instantly reach a desired menu screen only by means of played back voice sounds.
The portable telephone according to the invention includes a microphone (1) for receiving a voice input and a speaker (7) for delivering a voice output. The portable telephone has the function of recording and playing back the sound input from the microphone (1) at each of the menu screens. A control portion (8) of the portable telephone comprises an encoder (2) for converting an input signal from the microphone (1) into a digital signal, a memory device (4) for storing converted voice data, a decoder (6) for taking out data from the memory device, converting it into an analog signal, and playing back and outputting the analog signal from the speaker (7). A key operating portion (9) of the portable telephone is adapted to achieve recording or playing back of voice by a first key operation and to determine an input operation and execute recording or playing back of voice by a second key operation. Accordingly, not only character information displayed on the display, but also guides or information by voice messages, can be obtained from the portable telephone. Further, the user can record any message at will as a voice message, and therefore the portable telephone can not only be used for telephoning but also has a potential for various other applications.